ACIM Workbook Lesson 334 – for Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Affirmation: “Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.”
“I seek but the eternal. For Your Son can be content with nothing less than this. What, then, can be his solace but what You are offering to his bewildered mind and frightened heart, to give him certainty and bring him peace? Today I would behold my brother sinless. This Your Will for me, for so will I behold my sinlessness. (WB469)”
Reflections:
1 – Is “Sinlessness” Valid?
We need to recognize the sinlessness of our brothers and sisters, and of ourselves. This is why we seek only the eternal. While the concept of sinlessness is often one of the stumbling blocks in A Course in Miracles, it is a completely benign concept. It says that the impossible has never occurred. We have not really separated from God, despite the appearances of this illusory world. We are caught in unreality, and we blame each other, as well as ourselves, for the “sins” that we believe brought this state of affairs upon us.
2 – The “Tiny, Mad Idea”
We have not sinned. We are still as God created us (a frequent refrain in ACIM). But we have made mistakes, and these mistakes began with a “tiny, mad idea” about which the Son/Daughter of God forgot to laugh, making what seemed to be real effects borne of this cause. We thought in that tiny moment of time that we wanted something more than everything, something more than God. We thought that separation would offer us something that we would like better. And so the long descent, over millions of years, happened for all of us. Jesus says that the return may take a similarly long time, over millions of years. But, once begun, the end is certain. We will return. And in the meantime we do what we can to see that our brothers and sisters also return.
3 – Madness of This World
When we gain an intuitive inkling of what sinlessness really holds out to us, then we are well on our way to understanding how genuine we can make our forgiveness of our brothers and sisters, and of ourselves. We will realize that the separation, though seemingly real enough to build up a whole world around us, is actually based on very flimsy grounds. We should not underestimate the insanity, the madness, of this world. But we can look at it, and simply say, “This is unreal.”
4 – Enter the Eternal
When we behold our brothers and sisters as sinless, we will be entering into the eternal. And we will be immeasurably happier for not holding their “sins” against us as grievances any longer.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
I would not spend any time today nursing grievances. Holding them close to my heart is senseless and brings only despair. We are not innocent in time, but we are innocent in eternity. If this idea seems elusive, perhaps we need to realize that the eternal is the place where we want to spend our day. The things of the eternal–the joyous, peaceful, tranquil, and serene emotions–are manifestations of the love that we are need to receive. The fear that we sense is only in time, and thus it is as unreal as time itself is. Illusions do not grab us, asking for verification, when we turn our day over to the guidance of the Guide that God gave.
May the Holy Spirit take me by the hand today and lead me along peaceful pathways. May we not turn the inevitable pains of day-to-day living into suffering. May we realize that even the experience of pain, as Jesus tells us, is unnecessary. May I take to heart today the statement in A Course in Miracles that I do not have to learn through pain. I would, as would anyone, choose to learn through rewards. And may Jesus direct me along the way that will lead to this eventuality. May learning through rewards be a part of my experience today.
Thank You for Your Guide, the Holy Spirit. May I discern His guidance accurately, and may I not drop into ideas that partake of falsehood rather than truth. May I follow Your will in all that transpires.
Amen.
